. >> rose: owednesday president obama will announce how many troo will bring home from afghanistan beginning next month. the announcement follows months of debate in the white house, it comes with increasing concern in the war andure role in the country. the administration fac a number of challenges at home. unemployment remains high at 9.1%. the housing market continues to suffer and the u.s. debt has surpassed 14 trillion dollars. all of this will pose a significant challenge for the president in the 2012 eltion. joining me now a group of comments from the new york time from washington david brooks, with me here in new york, david leonhardt, roger cohen and tom friedman. they have all won too many awards to talk about. mi pleased to have all of them on this program today to talk about america. what's the challenge for us? because wherever i go around the world the thing they say is tt we want america to take care of their business at home first, so that they can lead the world and pla an important part as the rest of the world changes. >> well, charlie, i think the world does understan tha